The San Francisco Police Department released this photo of Thomas Burnoski, 57, an employee of the city Recreation and Park Department, who is accused of running over and killing 35-year-old Christine Svanemyr while she was lying on the grass at Holly Park in the Bernal Heights neighborhood, then driving away from the scene in his city-owned truck.

The San Francisco Police Department released this photo of Thomas Burnoski, 57, an employee of the city Recreation and Park Department, who is accused of running over and killing 35-year-old Christine Svanemyr

An envelope with a note to the family of Christine Svanemyr rests on a memorial at Holly Park in San Francisco on Friday, Sept. 6, 2013. Svanemyr was allegedly was killed by a Recreation and Parks vehicle in a hit and run accident on Thursday. less

An envelope with a note to the family of Christine Svanemyr rests on a memorial at Holly Park in San Francisco on Friday, Sept. 6, 2013. Svanemyr was allegedly was killed by a Recreation and Parks vehicle in a ... more

Photo: Mathew Sumner, Special To The Chronicle

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S.F. park death recalls accident in 1987

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Like many other people, Lisa Hendrix was outraged when a San Francisco Recreation and Park Department gardener ran over a woman this month, killing her as she lay with her baby in the grass.

For Hendrix, 61, the tragedy opened old wounds. Twenty-six years ago she nearly lost her life in the same way - in a San Francisco park.

On May 1, 1987, Hendrix was sunbathing on a blanket at Rossi Playground in the city's Inner Richmond neighborhood. After dozing off, she was awakened by a park worker running a vehicle over her shoulder and head - shattering her scapula, breaking her ribs and severing her right ear.

The accident, she said, caused years of pain and stress and forced her to move to a city with a warmer, drier climate that was conducive to her recovery. San Francisco paid $387,500 to settle a lawsuit she brought.

So when Hendrix heard about this month's death at Holly Park in Bernal Heights, she was shocked.

"It just makes me insane that this happened again," she said. "What I hoped was that there would have been measures taken for this not to happen again."

Holly Park incident

In the recent case, gardener Thomas Burnoski was driving a city truck in Holly Park on the afternoon of Sept. 5 when he struck Christine Svanemyr, a 35-year-old San Francisco resident who was enjoying a sunny day in the grass with her 11-month-old daughter and dog, who were uninjured.

Prosecutors are considering charges against Burnoski, 57, who left the scene and was arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run. His attorney has said he veered from a paved pedestrian path onto the grass to avoid an object and didn't stop because he did not initially realize he had hit a person.

Several neighbors, though, said it wasn't the first time park employees had violated a Recreation and Park policy that bars them from driving on pedestrian paths or grassy areas for the sake of convenience.

Supervisor David Campos, whose district includes Holly Park, has since called for a hearing to look into the policies and how they are implemented. He said it was "perturbing" to hear of the previous incident at Rossi Playground, which prompted a civil settlement approved by the Board of Supervisors in 1991.

"When we're paying a settlement, we're acknowledging we did something wrong, and if you do something wrong, you want to make sure you don't do it again," Campos said.

Change in policy?

The parks department could not say if Hendrix's ordeal changed its policies, which currently allow workers to venture onto pedestrian paths and grassy areas only with a spotter outside the vehicle. But agency spokeswoman Sarah Ballard said, "In the last 26 years, there have been many updates to the city's vehicle policy to adapt to changes in technology and maintenance needs."

Ballard said drivers must undergo training every two years to ensure they're following the rules, and face discipline if they don't. She pointed to a complaint a citizen made in February about a park employee speeding down pedestrian paths in Holly Park. That driver has since been fired.

While Hendrix's case was serious, it also appears to be relatively unusual.

Since 1994, three lawsuits involving a pedestrian and a parks department vehicle resulted in settlements, with total payouts of $170,000, according to the city attorney's office. At least two of those incidents did not happen on parks property, and records on the other case were not available.

Though Hendrix was happy the city said there should be a hearing, she said her case should have been enough to bring home the seriousness of the issue.

The only reason she's alive today, she added, is because Michael Casazza, the parks worker who hit her in 1987, stopped before the back of his car could strike her.

Lucky to be alive

"The way the tire hit my head, if he had been two or three inches in a different direction, it would have snapped my neck," Hendrix said. "Had he gone forward instead of stopping, it would have taken my face off. I'm very fortunate to be walking and talking."

She said the driver, like Burnoski, had turned off of a pedestrian path into the grass, apparently in an effort to turn around. Efforts to reach Casazza, who does not appear to have faced criminal charges in connection with the accident, were unsuccessful. Hendrix said her life dramatically changed after the accident, and she has spent much of the last 26 years learning to live with chronic pain. Now, she said, she can't stop thinking about Svanemyr and her family.

"I had all these years to put it back together - all these years to become a more sympathetic and empathetic human being because of this accident, to become who I am today," she said. "I just thought of all the things I would have missed in my life had it gone differently that day - and all the things she will miss, too. It breaks my heart."